Ice tongs



Sepe. 9 |924.'

c. J. KRoENrNG ICE ToNqs Filed Nov. 17. i923 Patented Sept. 9, 1924.

f UNITED'STTES CHARLES. JOHN Knonivrive,

[or nvAivsviLnE, INDIANA.

fronyrones.'

Application inea november 1"?,119235 siiinq; 675,398. n

T 0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLEs J. KRoE-MNG, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Evansville, in the county of Vanderburg and State of Indiana, have invented new and Improved Ice Tongs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention has relation to ice tongs and has particular reference to an improvement over that type of ice tongs, in which the shank terminals are connected by a iiexible handle member.

One of the principal objects of the present invention resides in the provision of reinforcing means associated with the handle member, which means in addition to prolonging the usefulness and increasing the wearing qualities of the handle, functions to normally eifect the opening of the tongs and the bowing of the handle member when the tongs are in a fully opened position whereby a clearance space is alforded between the handle and the shanks to accommodate the fingers and prevent the striking of the knuckles against said Shanks.

As a further object the invention contemplates an improved form of hinge connection between the tong shanks and the handle for the purpose of eliminating lateral projections and for lending greater strength to the structure.

As a still further object the invention contemplates an improved form of ice tongs, which is extremely simple in its construction, inexpensive to manufacture and which is highly eflicient in its purpose.

With the above recited and other objects in view, the invention resides in the novel construction set forth in the following specification, particularly pointed out in the appended claim and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it being understood that the right is reserved to embodiments otherthan those actually illustrated herein to the full extent indicated by the general meaning of the terms in which the claim is expressed. In the drawings- Figure l is a side elevation of a pain of ice tongs of the type set forth, equipped with a handle constructed in accordance with the invention, said handle being shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a plan view with parts broken away to disclose the underlying structure.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, 10 and 11 designate respectively the jaw members of a pair of tongs which are provided with hooked pointed terminals 12 at one extremity and are pivotally connected together as at 13. The jaw members are further provided with shanks 14 extending beyond the pivot and which are provided at their free terminals with laterally projecting trunnions 15. The handle member consists of two or more plies of flexible material 16 such as leather between the opposite ends of whichthe overlapped ends 17 of a strip of material is secured by rivets 18. The strip of material intermediate of its length is bent in eye form and is bifurcated to provide a pair of knuckles 19 which embrace the trunnions 15 in order to aord a hinged connection between the opposite ends of the handle member and the terminals of the shanks. From this construction it will be observed that the hinged yconnection is approximately of the same width as the width of the handle member in order that no projecting terminals are afforded. A strip of spring material 20 such as spring steel is interposed between the plies 16 of the handle and is securely anchored by rivets 2l to the plies adjacent their opposite ends. The strip of material 20 which has an inherent' tendency to straighten serves to effect a normal separation of the shank terminals and consequently'a normal opening of the jaws 10 and 11. In view of the fact that the handle member is of greater length than the distance between the shank terminals when the tongues are fully opened, the strip 20 will function to effect a bowing of the handle away from the shanks 14 as clearly illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 1, thereby producing a receiving space for the fingers and preventing striking of the knuckles against the shanks when the handle is grasped. Furthermore the stri i 2() serves to generally strengthen the han le member and to prevent stretching of the same whereby the usefulness and wearing qualities of the handle are greatly increased.

I claim: j

In a pair ofice tongs, a pair of tong jaws having hinged connection andformed with shanks extending beyond the hinged connection, laterally projecting trunnions on said shanks, a handle member `having laterally spaced knuckles at its opposite ends embracing the trunnions and lying at opposite sides the distance between the shank ,terminals 10 of the ends of the Shanks, said knuckles -hav- When the tongs are in fully opened position ing terminals embedded in and anchored to whereby the said strip effects a bowing O- the opposite ends of the handle member, and the handle member when the tongs are fully 4 a resilient, elastic strip embedded in the o'penedtoafford a sp-acebeitween the handle handle member and secured at its opposite and the Shanks, as and for the purpose spee- 15 ends toy the handle member adjacent the op-A fied.

posite ends of said handle member, said-han Y dl@ member being of a greater length than CHARLES 'JOHN KROENING. 

